Increasing the output and efficiency of a heavy-duty diesel engine also increases the load on the journal bearings in which the crankshaft runs. Where such an engine is to be run for many thousand hours at temperatures above 120.degree. C., crankshaft bearing failure may be precipitated by a slow change in the alloy compositions which comprise the various layers of the bearings.
One type of heavy-duty journal bearing that has provided good service for many years consists of a steel backing, a copper-lead alloy matrix adjacent the backing and a working surface of lead-tin babbitt. A very thin layer of nickel is interposed between the babbitt and copper-lead layers to prevent migration of metals therebetween. Such migration may create intermetallic compounds that do not have acceptable properties for use in a bearing when it is subjected to high temperatures and heavy loads. Bearing failure from scoring or sieze may result. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved, migration inhibiting, barrier layer between the babbitt and copper-lead alloy layers of a conventional heavy-duty journal bearing.